By LEYTE SAMAR DAILY EXPRESS
TACLOBAN CITY.– -The elections supervisor of Samar has moved for the holding of special election in a remote barangay of Pagsanghan town involving three precincts.
Commission on Elections supervisor Corazon Montallana said voting could not be held in precincts 0017A, 0018-A and 0018-B, all of Barangay Buenos Aires, because they were given the wrong ballots.
The precincts involve more than 400 registered voters.
Montallana said there was no failure of election in these precincts as the conduct of voting was stopped by the Comelec itself due to wrong official ballots intended for Buenos Aires.
“What we are calling is for a special election involving the three polling precincts,” Montallana said.
The ballots, intended for the villages of Generoso, Colon, Cristobal and Guimbal in Iloilo, would be returned to the Comelec central office.
Montallana said she immediately ordered for the suspension of voting in these polling precincts when she discovered the mix-up.
The Samar elections supervisor said the problem was only discovered by the members of the Board of Election Inspectors when they opened the official ballot in time for the start of voting.
Montallana said she immediately informed the regional Comelec office, which in turn relayed it to their central office for proper action.
The Samar elections supervisor also said BEI members in two polling precincts in Matuguinao were fired upon by still unidentified armed men last Sunday.
Montallana identified the BEIs as Elena Calagos and Pedro Baconawa of barangays Ligaya and Del Rosario, respectively. The two were fired upon by still unidentified men along Barangay Bag-utan around 3 p.m. Sunday while they were on their way to their polling assignments.
While the two BEI were not hit, they left behind the PCOS machines and other election paraphernalias as they scampered away.
But government troops, led by Lt. Franchild Dusil, immediately responded which resulted in the recovery of the PCOS machines and other election paraphernalia.
Elections in the two villages were transferred to Barangay San Isidro with the Philippine Army providing additional six squads composed of 54 soldiers.
The two villages have more than 300 registered voters.